PC Sales Fall, as Apple Crumbles

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) has a new problem. Sales of the Mac have started to fall, which makes it no better off than the personal computer (PC) companies with which it has competed for decades. In the second quarter, computer sales dropped 5.2% worldwide to 64.3 million. Apple Mac sales dropped 4.9% to 4.6 million, according to Gartner.

A large part of the industry slide was due to industry leader China-based Lenovo. Its sales fell 2.2% to 13.2 million. Its sales make up about one fifth of the entire market.

The research firm reported:

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 64.3 million units in the second quarter of 2016, a 5.2 percent decline from the second quarter of 2015, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. This was the seventh consecutive quarter of PC shipment declines, but Gartner analysts said the market is showing some signs of improvement.

Also:

All regions except North America experienced a PC shipment decline. The Latin America region was still very weak largely because of political and economic instability. PC shipments in Latin America are expected to fall below 5 million units for the second quarter of 2016, which is a decline of more than 20 percent from the second quarter of 2015. These shipment results would be some of the lowest in the history of the Latin America PC industry.

In a rare occurrence, China was not cited as the cause of large movement in the market.

As for the industry rank for the period:

Lenovo maintained the No. 1 position in worldwide PC shipments in the second quarter of 2016, despite a 2.2 percent decline in units from the same period last year. This was the fifth consecutive quarter of global PC shipment declines for Lenovo. The company experienced double-digit growth in the U.S. mobile PC market, but EMEA continued to be a challenge due to inventory build during the quarter. In Asia/Pacific, Lenovo’s shipments declined, but the decline was less than the overall average in the region.

In the tier just below HP, Lenovo and Dell, there is elbowing for the next spot.

Asus, Apple and Acer are battling it out for the fourth position in worldwide PC shipments for the second quarter of 2016, as preliminary results get finalized.

Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums, but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels.
Source: Gartner (July 2016)